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'mntyfrfaht. 































































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/ 


THE 

ART OF 
CARICATURE 




7 ? 


BY 

GRANT WRIGHT 




• •• 




PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR AT 
150 NASSAU ST., NEW YORK CITY 


1903 











THE LIBRARY OF 
CONGRESS, 

Two Copies Received 

AUG 27 1903 

Copyright Entry 
X “) - U\ 0 3 

CLASS XXc. No 

4> *7 / n- \T 

COPY 0. 



Copyrighted 1903 
By GRANT WRIGHT. 


< 


« C « * f , c 

< < C t 

t ‘ « tt l 


< • <. 
< 

<J ( 









































































































































Drawing from your own face in the mirror is excellent practice, if it is 
for you to obtain the services of a friend as a model. The above outline 
aie given as an aid in translating natural rounded forms into “shorthand” 


impossible 
suggestions 
or line. 






















Figures showing the effect of distorted feet, head, and hands. 






































































































'J 





















A pen drawing by the late Phil May, who could tell more with fewer lines than any 

other artist. 
















































INTRODUCTION. 


The) object in issuing this book is to convey 
to its readers, by a series of progressive steps 
in drawing, a suggestion of the human face with¬ 
out expression—a diagram of different measure¬ 
ments that show the relative proportion of the 
features; principally to show Form, and to fix 
in the mind of the student some scheme of com¬ 
parison for the study of individual expression. 
In most cases individual peculiarities are very 
marked, but where they are not this diagram is 
of great value in helping to make them clear. 
After Form comes Action. This is conveyed 
in like manner by the fewest lines possible to 
suggest the figure in different variety of atti¬ 
tudes. This foundation work is of inestimable 



12 


THE) ART OF CARICATURE. 


value, and no further progress is suggested until 
a complete mastery is had of these preliminary 
diagrams. The further progress will be deter¬ 
mined by the student’s aptitude and his power of 
expression in drawing from people, objects, and 
things. 


Art of Cariraturr. 


A 


CARICATURE is a pictorial repre¬ 
sentation in which the beauties are 
concealed and tHe peculiarities or de¬ 
fects exaggerated to make the person 


or thing ridiculous, while a general likeness is 
retained. 


CARTOONS. 


A cartoon is a picture, either a caricature or 
a symbolical composition, designed to advocate 
or attack some political or other idea of present 
interest or some prominent person. It may or 
may not be a caricature. Many well-known paint¬ 
ings are virtually cartoons. Watt’s “Love and 
Death” and other great masterpieces are ex¬ 
amples of this. But the visually accepted idea 









H 


the: art ot caricature. 


of a cartoon is the pictorial compositions we see 
in our daily papers caricaturing some prominent 
person or idea. 

HOW APPLIED. 

Although caricature may be applied to all 
objects, the human face and figure are the most 
susceptible to treatment, the most interesting and 
convenient to study; and he who masters the 
difficulties of facial expression and the action of 
the human figure will find other objects com¬ 
paratively easy. The multitudes who travel on 
the streets, cars, and ferries furnish any amount 
of material for reference and study in this par¬ 
ticular field. During leisure moments no more 
fruitful theme offers itself to the artist for en¬ 
joyment or benefit. 

A PORTRAIT AND A CARICATURE. 

An accurate pictorial representation of any 
person or object is a portrait/ Of course, when 




The face on the left is drawn without reference to the rules of draughtsmanship 
d displays no knowledge of artistic anatomy. As a frank record of ignorance by 
tae writer who could supplement it with a humorous caption, it would be acceptable 
d laughter-provoking. But as an offering from a professional caricaturist it would 
neither funny nor convincing. It would merely serve to prove to us his ignorance 
art. 

How much a knowledge of drawing can add to the simplest caricature is amply 
oved by the superiority of the head on the right. This picture is drawn with careful 
ention to natural facts as a basis for its humorous intention. 



I 












the: art of caricature:. 17 

the word portrait is commonly used it refers to 
a representation of a person; but, broadly speak¬ 
ing, the statement which commences this para¬ 
graph is correct. On the other hand, to exag¬ 
gerate a portrait is to produce a caricature. In 
addition to exaggerating certain facts, good cari¬ 
caturists omit much. Therefore, a caricaturist’s 

THE FIRST STEP. 

first step is to determine what peculiarities are 
predominant in the person or object he is at¬ 
tempting to ridicule, and in what way these can 
be exaggerated to produce the most humorous 
effect. A practical caricaturist knows by experi¬ 
ence just what to do the minute he looks at an 
object he intends to draw in a humorous way; 
and while definite rules cannot always be laid 
down, it is the safest to say that in case of 
some well-known character, for instance, a heavy 


18 THE ART OF CARICATURE. 

percentage of comic artists working independent 
of each other would seize upon the same salient 
characteristics as a butt for their humor. 

RELATION OF CARICATURE TO 
DRAWING. 

Caricature, contrary to a popular conception, 
is not incorrect or bad drawing; it is good draw¬ 
ing, refined and controlled to produce a humorous 
effect, and a well-drawn caricature has just as 
much and often more art beneath it than a paint¬ 
ing hung on the walls of an art gallery. A be¬ 
ginner in the art of caricature can do himself no 
greater service than to get this great truth firmly 
fixed in his mind. It is true that “the gro¬ 
tesque and the beautiful are not produced by 
opposite means, but by the eccentric application 
in the one of the same laws that govern the 
other. It is obvious, therefore, that distortion 
through ignorance is simply bad drawing; but 



The oval or egg shape with horizontal and perpendicular lines of division, showing 
their relative position to the features in a front view of the face, constituting the 
standard or ideal face. This standard must be thoroughly fixed in the mind until it 
amounts to instinct, for a familiarity with it is of first importance in establishing a 
groundwork for study. 













































« 


the art of caricature. 


21 


distortion with an understood motive, regulated 
by recognized laws, is not only right but more 
truly ridiculous.” 

THE OVAL OR EGG SHAPE. 

The ideal human head is, speaking in a large 
way, of an oval or egg shape, with the smaller end 
of the egg downward. This egg is divided into 
four equal horizontal parts: The upper quarter 
extends from the top of the head to the dividing 
line between the hair and the forehead. The 
second quarter reaches to the eyebrows. From 
thence to the nostrils is the third division. The 
fourth division extends to the bottom of the 
chin. The ears are exactly the same length as 
the nose and occupy the space between the second 
and third divisions. The fourth, or lowest, divi¬ 
sion contains the mouth. The dividing line be¬ 
tween the lips is one-fourth downward on the 


22 


the art oe caricature. 


lowest division. The top of the chin is exactly 
in the middle of this division. 

Dividing the egg into eight perpendicular divi¬ 
sions of equal width, we find that the centre line 
bisects the nose and mouth; that the pupils of 
the eye are in each case on the third space from 
either side; that the mouth occupies the two 
centre spaces; that the eyebrows commence at 
the second space from either side and extend to 
the middle of each of the two centre spaces. 

THE FACIAL PROPORTIONS DRAWN 
ON THE EGG. 

It will be excellent practice for you, and will 
serve to impress the above truths on your mind, 
to take an egg and draw the divisions upon it 
with pencil, placing an outline of the features in 
the proper places. By holding the egg at different 
angles, the eye will instinctively grasp and the 




Thp hnriynntal and perpendicular divisions of the face drawn on an egg, and moved 
slighTl^forward^ndbac'kward^to give an idea of pose and foreshortenmg that would 
appear on actual features if viewed m like manner. 






















































THE ART OE CARICATURE. 25 

brain readily comprehend the effect of the natu¬ 
ral subdivision of the human head when seen 
in the perspective, or foreshortened as it is turned. 
The diagrams on page 23 serve to bring out 
this idea quite clearly. Of course, when one 
looks at an exact side view of a head thus 

THE PROJECTIONS OF THE FACE IN 
SIDE VIEW. 

sketched upon an egg, the profile will be missing, 
and, owing to the lengthening of the skull at the 
back, the egg form must be varied from, and 
added to, to produce the effect of reality. The 
horizontal divisions, however, hold good for the 
side view. 

FORESHORTENING THE SIDE VIEW. 

If you tip the egg slightly toward you or away 
from you when looking at it from the side, you 


26 


the art of caricature. 


will notice that the foreshortening is somewhat 
increased, and that in order to approximate na¬ 
ture a drawing made from it would have to take 
into account the changed appearance of the fea¬ 
tures owing to the different point of view. For 
instance, when the top of a side-view head is 
tipped slightly away from you, you see more of 
the upper lip than the lower; you look into the 
nostrils, you see under the lid of the eye and the 
arch of the eyebrow. And, on the other hand, in 
the same view, with the top of the head tipped 
slightly toward you, you will observe less of the 
upper lip than the lower, the opening of the 
nostrils will not be seen, and the pupil of the eye 
will be partially hidden by the lid above it. 

PRACTICE. 

By a reasonable amount of practice, as outlined 
above, the construction of the ideal human head 
can be so firmly fixed in your mind that it will 



The side view of the head tipped backward, showing under jaw, nose, and eyelid, 
and the side view of the head tipped forward, showing the effect of foreshortening. 
These diagrams should be thoroughly fastened in the mind, so they can be (mentally) 
applied to the different faces that come under your observation. 






















THE ART OE CARICATURE. 


29 


be found a comparatively easy matter to produce 
variations from the standard met with in every¬ 
day life. Thus, the cartoonist's typical Yankee 
face has these standard measurements as a basis, 
but is thinner and lanker. The average comic 
artist’s conception of a German face is to change 
this ideal form by making it broader and adding 
such facial gardening in the way of whiskers as 
his fancy may suggest. 

NATURAL TALENT. 

It will be well for you at this point of your art 
education to forever free your mind of any pre¬ 
conceived notions as to your natural ability as 
a draughtsman; for let it be distinctly under¬ 
stood that some of the greatest artists that ever 
lived were the poorest draughtsmen and some of 
the greatest draughtsmen were the poorest artists. 
Draughtsmanship and artistic instinct have no 
more relation to each other than penmanship and 


30 


THE ART 0E CARICATURE. 


literary instinct. You were not born, and nobody 
was ever born, with a knowledge of form and 
proportion. 

I quote here from a writer who handles this 
idea very clearly. He says: “We often hear 
the remark that 'such-a-one’ ought to be able to 
draw, for 'it comes natural to him’—an entirely 
erroneous assumption; for, however natural may 
have been the peculiar direction of the mind, 
it never yet 'came natural’ to any one to use a 
pencil; whatever proficiency there is results from 
practice and practice alone: though it is true that 
the greater the inborn love for the subject the 
more untiring will be the endeavor to master the 
means of expressing it. The truth, therefore, is 
that a'genius’ is forced to practise infinitely harder 
than any one else to keep pace with his 'impulses,’ 
and hence he excels in execution—but that is no 
evidence of genius. The gift of genius will show 
itself in the application of the principles of cari- 


































X 






the: art of caricature:. 


33 


cature, not in a mere proof of the knowledge of 
them.” 

A knowledge of drawing having been acquired, 
unimagined pleasures and sensations are opened 
up to the happy possessor of this accomplishment. 
It is quite true that anybody of average intelli¬ 
gence can, if he will, learn to draw. It is also 
quite true that nobody of average intelligence 
ever will learn to draw unless this inborn instinct 
prompts him to do so. 

THE SKELETON FORM. 

Having thus considered at some length the 
formation of the head, let us study the forms 
composing the body that supports it. The action 
or general movements of the body must always 
be grasped before a convincing drawing can be 
made. The simplest way to understand the 
action is to reduce it to the movements of the 


34 THE art oe CARICATURE. 

skeleton, .and for the purpose of study you may 
still further simplify matters by reducing the 
skeleton to a few simple strokes which suggest it. 

SKELETONIZED FIGURES. 

I give on page 39 some little figures formed en¬ 
tirely of the skeleton strokes used, and a glance 
at these little drawings will show you how readily 
the action of a figure can be comprehended by 
this simple means of analyzing it. 

FIVE DOTS AND SKELETONIZED 
FIGURES. 

To place five dots on a piece of paper in any 
imaginable combination, and to draw a skeleton¬ 
ized figure to conform to the five dots (letting 
each extremity touch one dot), will be found ex¬ 
cellent practice. 



chapter on proportions of the figure explains the meaning of these diagrams quite 

thoroughly. 






















































\ 





THE ART OE CARICATURE. 


37 


PROPORTIONS OF THE FIGURE. 

A male figure, according to the standard set 
by the antique statues, should be eight heads 
high; a female figure, seven and a half heads 
high. The following table of the various meas¬ 
urements of the ideal human figure will, if care¬ 
fully memorized, be found an aid to the cari¬ 
caturist, and, indeed, to any artist who must dis¬ 
pense with the use of a living model. The en¬ 
tire length of the figure is eight times the length 
of head. The distance from finger tip to finger 
tip (the arms being extended at right angles to 
the body) equals the height. When arms hang at 
the side, the ends of the fingers touch a point 
halfway between the joints of the knee and the 
hip. The width of the body at hip and chest is 
twice the length of face. The hand is the length 
of the face. Twice around the wrist is once 
around the neck; twice around the neck is once 


38 


THE ART OE CARICATURE. 


around the waist; the hand and foot are of equal 
length; the big toe, thumb, and nose are of the 
same length. 

ACCURACY IN DRAWING. 

The beginner should never attempt to produce 
a caricature of a head until he has made an abso¬ 
lutely accurate likeness as a standard of com¬ 
parison. 


MEN AND ANIMALS. 

A fertile field for the imagination of the cari¬ 
caturist, and one which has in the past been ex¬ 
plored to good advantage, is the combination of 
a man’s characteristics, mental or physical, with 
those of an animal which he seems to typify; thus, 
Richard Croker has been repeatedly represented 
as a tiger. Then, too, the human figure can be 
made to suggest other objects in an effective way. 













THE ART OF CARICATURE. 


41 


Thomas Nast, the great caricaturist of the past 
generation, represented Tweed as a human bag 
of money. Some faces, particularly those of 
beautiful women, are difficult, almost impossible, 
to caricature. 

ENLARGING THE BODY. 

A commonly used device in a case of this kind 
is to reduce the size of the body and to bring 
into prominence by exaggeration any individual 
peculiarity of dress or manners which may be 
characteristic of the subject. 

ENLARGING THE HEAD. 

Many caricaturists use this device of a small 
body for the sake of bringing the head or most 
interesting part of the figure into greater promi¬ 
nence, so that its expression and character will 
tell the story very clearly and directly. 


42- 


the art of 1 caricature. 


The exaggeration of the size of heads is not 
the only device of this kind at the command of 
a comic artist; hands, feet, legs, or other parts 
of the anatomy can also be distorted with ridicu¬ 
lous effect. 

A good example of this sort of work may be 
found in the extremely clever drawings Mr. 
Howarth contributes to the New York American. 

THE SKETCH BOOK FOR SUGGES¬ 
TIONS. 

As a sort of library of suggestions for facial 
characteristics the artist should keep a notebook 
in his pocket and should jot down in it accu¬ 
rate outline memorandums of foreheads, noses, 
mouths, beards, and other parts of heads he meets 
in his daily travel. 

After a few months of such work he will be 
surprised to observe the immense amount of good 
raw material he will have to draw from. 



A knowledge of phrenology plays quite a part in the caricaturist’s art. In these 
drawings the physical development of the heads conforms to the development of the 
brain. Brute force is suggested by heavy jawbones, indicating bulldog tenacity, while 
in the head to the right the physical characteristics are plainly those of a man whose 
mental force exceeds his physical power. 
























46 THE ART OE CARICATURE. 

lustre, of Paris; Die Fliegende Blatter, Jugend, 
and Simplissimus, of Germany. The comic sec¬ 
tions of the daily papers published here alone 
form a vast library for the earnest student in 
comic art. 


THE HUMORIST. 

An inborn sense of the ridiculous and a natural 
gift for sarcasm and repartee are necessary equip¬ 
ments for the would-be comic artist, for a person 
who cannot make his friends laugh by the use 
of the English language, with which he is thor¬ 
oughly familiar, cannot hope to do so by 
means of a few scratches of his pen or pencil, in 
which he has acquired proficiency comparatively 
late in life. Nothing can be more tiresome than 
the efforts of a person attempting to be funny 
who has no material qualifications for such a role. 



Drawings by German artists showing how violent exaggerations may yet contain 
the essential elements of truth, or even be more suggestive of truth than accurately- 
drawn outlines. 














THE ART OE CARICATURE. 


49 


FAMOUS CARICATURISTS. 

As a guide to the student in selecting published 
comic drawings to study, I give below the names 
of some of the acknowledged masters of this 
form of art, together with the publications in 
which their work appears: 

Zimmerman, Hamilton, Dalrymple, Taylor, of 
Judge; Keppler, Gillam, O’Neill, of Puck; 
Nealan, Schultz, Outcault, of the Herald; C. G. 
Bush, of the World; Opper, Davenport, Swinner- 
ton, of the Journal; C. D. Gibson, of Life, and 
many other artists who contribute from time to 
time to regular periodicals, but who are not stead¬ 
ily employed by any. In this connection might 
be named Rogers, Kemble, Levering, Blashfield, 
Sullivant, Macauley, Allen, and many others. 


50 


THE ART 01? CARICATURE. 


There is a quality of expression in German cari¬ 
cature that is here reproduced on two pages, one 
of politicians and army officers and the other 
of comic sketches, that will serve well to illus¬ 
trate how fluently they treat their subjects. Their 
efforts might well be compared to a forceful 
speaker whose words seem to come from him 
spontaneously, without any effort whatever, and 
whose humor is overflowing. In Wilhelm 
Busch’s sketches there is a noticeable freedom 
of handling that illustrates this very idea; he 
seems to depict the very essence of the ridiculous 
without any effort whatever. 

The portrait reproductions show a strong, 
vigorous conception of the salient points of ex¬ 
aggeration that give them force and power with¬ 
out any waste of lines. 

The cartoons of the late Phil May showed 
that he perfectly understood his subjects and how 
to get the most out of the fewest lines possible. 


r~ - 



The ideal treatment for comic drawings. These pictures by Wilhelm Busch are 
so easily drawn that they are virtually written. A joke, whether written, spoken, or 
drawn, should never show effort in its delivery. 

















































■ 






the; art of caricature;. 


53 


Thomas Nast might be called the father of the 
political cartoon in America. The pictorial sym¬ 
bols of the two great parties, the elephant and 
the mule, and the Tammany tiger, published in 
Harper's, were his own creation. His influence 
in moulding political opinion was tremendous. 

During the civil war his pictures were powerful 
factors in creating a sentiment for the Union 
cause, and it is said “no editor, division com¬ 
mander, or captain in the Navy did more with 
pen, tongue, or sword than Mr. Nast with his 
pencil.” Many will recall his famous cartoon 
of Lincoln and Jeff Davis, in which the latter 
appears perched in the boughs of a tree, while 
the former occupies the commanding position of 
a hunter, with shotgun in hand, who has just 
bagged his game. The title under the picture 
included the simple and very amusing request 
from the famous Confederate: “Please don’t 
shoot, Mr. Lincoln; all I want is to be let alone.” 


54 


THE ART OF CARICATURE. 


He was credited later as being a potent factor 
in breaking up the Tweed Ring in New York 
City. His cartoon, “Who Stole the People’s 
Money ? ’Twas Him!” brought forth from this 
notorious organization strong inducements in the 
way of money consideration if he would only 
“let up,” and finally threats against his life,' which 
had no effect on him whatever. Technically, 
half the power of his compositions lay in the 
descriptive matter that accompanied them; for 
Nast was not only a draughtsman, but he had a 
literary conception of satire, often used to good 
advantage with his cartoons, that made them 
doubly strong. In those days the slow process 
of wood engraving was the principal means of 
reproduction; while now it is possible, with sun¬ 
light and a few chemicals, to reproduce in one 
hour what in Nast’s time required a week. By 
this modern means of quick printing and quick 
engraving a great demand has been created for 


THE ART OR CARICATURE. 


55 


rapid workers in all branches of pictorial art. 
It is impossible to name the number of artists 
employed on daily papers and weekly periodicals 



throughout the country who are continually doing 
meritorious work. New York City alone has a 
small army of them. 














































































■ 








































































(By permission of the New York World.) 

An example of a cartoon by America’s master cartoonist, whose work should be atten¬ 
tively studied by all prospective humorists of the pencil. 


















I 




Facial expressions showing the effect of omitting the contour except where absolutely 

necessary. 




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f 


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Heads drawn in black masses and outline, showing the effect of shadows without the 

use of cross line. 





































































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. . 






















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Reproduction from L’Illustration. 







































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SUPPLEMENT TO 


/ 


The Art of Caricature 



run LI SHE I) BY 

GRANT WRIGHT 

M 

150 NASSAU STREET 
NEW YORE 


COPYRIGHTED IQO} BY GRANT WRIGHT 























CAREFUL study (with pen or pencil) of 
the diagrams and drawings contained in the 
Art of Caricature will give you sufficient 
general knowledge of form and proportion 
to begin applying the principles. Practice will overcome the 
difficulty of not being able to fix the standard forms and 

lines in the mind so as to be able to see them on the 

subject you wish to work from. The habit of comparison 
soon becomes second nature and you are able to distinguish 
readily the salient points to be exaggerated or attenuated as 
the result' may suggest, using your own judgment as to their 
value as characteristic points. 

By your fancy and invention you will find there is no 
limit to the range of grotesque effect as you will note on 

the first page of this supplement. Examples of how to apply 
the standard form to a portrait are here offered together 

with other illustrations for the purpose of helping you to 
further progress. 


ies Received i 

19*1903 • 

jht Entry 
CUXXc. No ' 







y LET A 

Represent a portrait 

Ywish t o caricature . Q y Appv'/iw..- 
Tue STANDARD CERTAIN DISAGREEMENTS ARe APPARENT 
THAT ARE CHARACTERISTIC IN LARGE NOSE , 
5HORT UPP5R UP AND space BETWEEN MOI/T 
ANP FOREHEAD LINE , A WIDE LOWER JAW ANP MOUTH, 
SLOPE OF ETEBROWS ANP EyEuDS . LA RC6 WIDE 
F ORE HEAP /\rfLYIN CARICATURE TO THIS 

PORTRAIT A GENERAL FULLNESS OF THE FACE »S 
|S NOTED -APPEARING FROM the FOREHEAD LINE 0f\ 
MIDDLE LINE.. OF the OVAL DOWN AS IF THE 

features had been squeezed togather. the 

itUBBV WHISKERS AND HAIR. ON SlPE- OF HEAP 
EXTENDING BEYOND THe OVAL. THESE POIUTS 

Should 0E FORCEABLT expressed mm 
Caricature, or this one cf procedure e*aggee 

-ATiNG OR MAKING l£AN ACCORDING To OBSERVATION 
ANP USING JUDGEMENT AS TO THE VALUE OF 
ACCENTUATION A result Simiuarto B 

WOULD APPEAR not eXACC.ORATEP IN THE £*- 
TREME &UT ENOUGH TO SHOW THE PRINCIPAL 



































































































































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